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A  Religion  of  Love    | 


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WORKS   ON  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE 

Written  by  MARY  BAKER  EDDY 

SCIENCE  AND  HEALTH  WITH   KEY  TO  THE  SCRIPTURES. 
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cloth 1  60 

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CHRISTIAN    HEALING     AND    THE    PEOPLE'S   IDEA   OF 

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ALTJSON    V      STKWART      Falmouth  and  St.  Paul  Streets 

/\Jul^iaWi\     V.    aiI!.VVAn,l,            Boston.  Mass..  U.  S.  A.  7 


CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE: 

A  RELIGION  OF  LOVE 


A    LECTURE    DELIVERED    BY 


VIRGIL  O.   STRICKLER,  C.S. 

AS  A  MEMBER  OF  THE  BOARD  OF  LECTURESHIP  OF  THE 

FIRST  CHURCH   OF  CHRIST,  SCIENTIST^  IN 

BOSTON,   MASSACHUSETTS 


THE  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE  PUBLISHING  SOCIETY 

FALMOUTH  AND  ST.   PAUL  STREETS 

BOSTON,  MASSACHUSETTS 

U.  S.  A. 


Copyright,  1913,  by 

Thh  Christian  Science  Publishing  Society. 

Boston,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


Christian  Science : 

A  Religion  of  Love 

ENTIRELY  apart  from  the  question  of  physi- 
cal healing,  it  is  generally  conceded  that 
Christian  Science  produces  a  happy  and  contented 
mentality,  that  it  destroys  fear  and  makes  people 
loving  and  kind.  When  we  add  to  this  the  fact  that 
it  has  healed  many  sick  people  who  had  previously 
been  unable  to  find  relief  under  other  systems,  that 
it  has  cured  many  of  the  drug  habit  and  the  liquor 
habit,  has  restored  harmony  in  many  homes  which 
were  discordant,  and  has  given  hope  and  courage 
to  people  who  were  discouraged,  it  is  easy  to  un- 
derstand why  it  has  spread  with  such  wonderful 
rapidity, 

SEEKING    HELP 

It  has  been  truly  said  that  every  person  has  a 
problem,  either  physical  or  mental,  a  domestic  or 
a  business  problem,  toward  the  solution  of  which 
he  needs  God's  help;  and  if  Christian  Science  is 
able  to  help  people  to  be  happy,  to  be  healthy,  to 
be  less  fault-finding,  to  have  less  fear  and  to  have 
more  love,  then  It  is  something  which  every  one 
must  desire.    Before  becoming  interested  in  Chris- 

363^63 


4  ,      PHR^STIAN    SCIENCE: 

tlaii  S'cieiicfe  I  ^ais  'a  member  of  an  orthodox 
church.  I  had  been  taught  to  read  the  Bible  and 
to  respect  and  venerate  its  teachings,  and  I  did  so. 
There  was  one  thing,  however,  which  I  was  never 
able  to  understand,  and  that  was  why  everybody 
who  lived  at  the  time  of  Jesus  and  witnessed  his 
wonderful  works  did  not  believe  in  him.  It  seemed 
to  me  that  if  I  had  lived  at  that  time,  and  had 
been  able  to  see  him  heal  leprosy,  blindness,  in- 
sanity, and  raise  the  dead,  it  would  have  been 
very  easy  to  believe  in  him.  People  who  witnessed 
those  works,  however,  were  not  always  impressed 
in  his  favor  because  of  them,  for  when  he  per- 
formed one  of  his  most  wonderful  cures  it  stirred 
some  of  the  people  to  rage.  For  instance,  when 
he  raised  Lazarus  from  the  dead,  one  of  the  eye- 
witnesses hastened  to  report  it  to  the  authorities 
in  Jerusalem,  and  the  Jewish  Sanhedrim  forthwith 
declared  that  Jesus  must  be  put  to  death ;  because, 
they  said,  if  this  were  not  done,  all  the  people 
would  follow  him. 

Since  becoming  a  Christian  Scientist  I  can  un- 
derstand why  the  people  of  his  time  were  not  con- 
vinced by  the  works  of  Christ  Jesus  that  he  was 
the  true  representative  of  God.  They  believed 
that  a  Messiah  would  come,  but  they  expected  him 
to  come  in  a  certain  way,  and  because  he  did  not 
come  in  that  way  they  refused  to  believe  in  him. 
It  is  the  same  quality  of  thought  which  prevents 
people  at  the  present  time  from  being  convinced 


A   RELIGION   OF   LOVE  5 

that  Christian  Science  is  the  truth  by  the  works  that 
it  does.  People  in  other  churches  pray  for  the  recov- 
ery of  the  sick.  They  do  so  because  of  the  prom- 
ises found  in  the  Bible ;  but  when  the  healing  comes 
through  the  Christian  Science  church  and  as  the 
result  of  Christian  Science  prayer,  some  are  ready 
to  condemn  it, — as  ready  today  as  two  thousand 
years  ago  to  declare  that  the  healing  works  are 
done  through  Beelzebub. 

CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE    HEALING 

Let  us  not  rob  ourselves  of  any  good  thing 
because  of  prejudice  or  sectarianism.  Christian 
Science  is  knocking  at  the  door  of  this  age  with  a 
message  of  hope  for  every  one.  It  declares  that 
the  truth  taught  and  practised  by  Jesus  is  operat- 
ing today,  and  is  as  available  now  as  it  was  in 
apostolic  times. 

The  thing  which  has  caused  the  most  criticism 
of  Christian  Science  is  that  it  claims  to  heal 
the  sick  without  drugs,  by  spiritual  means  only, 
through  the  medium  of  prayer;  and  as  this  is  the 
phase  of  Christian  Science  in  which  the  public 
seems  to  be  most  interested,  we  shall  endeavor  to 
answer  the  objections  which  have  been  presented 
to  healing  by  prayer. 

There  are  two  classes  of  critics  who  attack 
Christian  Science  healing.  First,  those  who  say 
that  such  healing  is  impossible,  and  that  it  is 
therefore  preposterous    for   Christian   Science   to 


6  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

claim  that  the  sick  may  be  healed  without  drugs, 
through  the  medium  of  prayer;  and,  second,  those 
who  claim  that  it  is  unscriptural  to  attempt  to  do 
so.  All  criticism  of  Christian  Science  healing  falls 
under  one  of  these  two  heads. 

With  respect  to  the  first  class,  those  who  say 
that  the  healing  is  impossible,  it  can  only  be  an- 
swered that  through  Christian  Science  all  kinds  of 
diseases  have  been  healed.  This  cannot  be  denied. 
The  entire  Christian  Science  movement  is  made  up 
of  people  who  have  been  healed.  Most  of  them 
turned  to  Christian  Science  as  a  last  resort,  after 
having  failed  to  get  relief  through  other  channels. 
The  Christian  Science  churches  are  built  with 
money  contributed  as  a  thank-offering  to  God  by 
those  who  have  been  healed  through  Christian 
Science.  The  person  who  denies  that  Christian 
Science  heals  the  sick  today,  is  merely  closing  his 
eyes  to  what  he  does  not  wish  to  see.  It  is  a  fact 
that  Christian  Science  does  heal  all  manner  of 
disease  and  suffering,  and  it  is  a  fact  for  which 
every  one  should  be  grateful. 

With  respect  to  the  second  class,  those  who 
think  it  is  unscriptural  for  Christian  Science  to 
teach  that  the  sick  may  be  healed  without  drugs, 
by  spiritual  means  only,  I  will  say  that  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  understand  how  any  person  who  has  studied 
the  Bible  or  believes  in  God,  can  give  place  to  such 
a  question.  It  seems  obvious  that  people  who 
pray  to   God   for  everything  they   desire,   might 


A    RELIGION    OF   LOVE  7 

also  be  expected  to  pray  to  Him  for  deliverance 
from  sickness  as  well  as  from  sin.  Christian 
Science  declares  without  any  equivocation  that  the 
truth  taught  by  Jesus,  when  rightly  understood 
and  rightly  applied,  is  sufficient,  without  the  aid 
of  any  material  means  whatsoever,  both  to  heal 
the  sick  and  to  regenerate  the  sinner.  This,  then, 
gives  us  a  starting-point  from  which  to  begin  to 
measure  Christian  Science  with  the  Scriptures. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  Jesus  healed  the  sick 
by  metaphysical  and  not  by  physical  means.  He 
did  not  administer  drugs  or  recommend  their  use, 
and  yet  he  healed  the  sick  by  some  process  which 
was  infallible.  Organic  diseases  yielded  to  his 
treatment  as  readily  as  those  which  were  purely 
functional.  People  who  were  born  blind  and  with 
crooked  and  misshapen  bodies,  found  themselves 
restored  to  normal  conditions  under  his  treatment 
as  readily  as  those  who  were  suffering  from  fevers 
or  insanity. 

DOING    THE    WORKS 

The  question  is,  How  did  he  do  it;  and  is  it 
possible  for  human  beings  now  walking  the  earth 
to  learn  his  method  so  as  to  be  able  to  produce 
cures  in  the  same  way? 

Many  believe  that  Jesus  was  able  to  do  his 
wonderful  works  because  he  was  divine,  and  there- 
fore that  it  is  impossible  to  do  the  works  he  did, 
and  even  blasphemous  for  any  person  to  claim  to 


8  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

do  them.  This,  however,  will  not  explain  the  exer- 
cise of  the  same  power  by  his  disciples  and  other 
early  Christians.  Jesus  himself  never  said  any- 
thing to  justify  such  a  belief.  On  the  contrary, 
he  apparently  took  every  precaution  to  prevent 
such  a  theory  from  becoming  prevalent.  In  a  con- 
versation with  his  disciples  concerning  this  very 
matter,  recorded  in  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  the 
gospel  of  John,  he  said:  "Believest  thou  not  that  I 
am  in  the  Father,  and  the  Father  in  me?  the  words 
that  I  speak  unto  you  I  speak  not  of  myself:  but 
the  Father  that  dwelleth  in  me,  he  doeth  the 
works."  This  was  equivalent  to  saying  that  God 
is  Mind,  and  that  he  dwelt  in  Mind,  and  Mind  in 
him,  so  that  he  of  himself  did  not  do  anything,  but 
that  God,  operating  through  him,  did  the  works. 
Giving  all  honor  and  power  to  the  Father,  he  said, 
"The  Son  can  do  nothing  of  himself."  He  likewise 
declared  that  the  divine  power  operating  through 
him  was  available  to  every  one,  and  could  be  pos- 
sessed and  exercised  by  every  one  who  accepted 
his  teachings  and  fulfilled  their  requirements. 

In  this  connection  it  is  significant  that  Jesus 
never  at  any  time  sent  out  his  disciples  to  preach 
without  telling  them  also  to  heal  the  sick.  There 
is  no  Scriptural  authority  for  preaching  that  does 
not  have  coupled  with  it  the  command  to  heal. 
"Go  ye  into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  gospel" 
and  "Heal  the  sick,"  were  his  commands.  Lest 
there  should  be  any  doubt  about  it  he  said :  "Ver- 


A    RELIGION    OF    LOVE  9 

ily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  He  that  believeth  on 
me,  the  works  that  I  do  shall  he  do  also;  and 
greater  works  than  these  shall  he  do ;  because  I  go 
unto  my  Father."  Almost  the  last  words  that  he 
uttered  before  his  ascension  were:  "These  signs 
shall  follow  them  that  believe,"  and  among  other 
things  which  he  enumerated  he  declared  that  they 
should  heal  the  sick.  Not  once  in  all  the  record 
do  we  find  any  authority  to  use  drugs.  Is  it  rea- 
sonable to  suppose  that  he  would  have  commanded 
his  followers  to  heal  the  sick  by  spiritual  means 
and  without  drugs  unless  he  had  known  that  it  was 
possible  to  do  so.^*  Christian  Scientists  are  striv- 
ing to  obey  Jesus  in  his  twofold  command  to 
"preach  the  gospel"  and  "heal  the  sick,"  and  in 
doing  so  they  have  met  with  such  success  that 
Christian  Science  is  now  recognized  as  an  efficient 
curative  system. 

The  fact  that  the  primitive  church  healed  the 
sick  and  raised  the  dead,  was  one  of  the  things 
which  first  opened  my  thought  to  Christian  Science 
and  caused  me  to  see  that  in  healing  the  sick  the 
Christian  Science  church  was  not  only  obeying  the 
commands  of  Jesus,  but  was  in  fact  reestablishing 
the  healing  work  of  the  primitive  church. 

History  records  that  the  healing  of  the  sick 
was  a  part  of  the  regular  church  ministry  for 
three  hundred  years  after  the  crucifixion,  and  that 
the  dead  were  raised  during  the  first  and  second 
centuries.     Afterward,  it  appears  that  the  healing 


10  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE: 

power  was  lost,  and  history  shows  why.  We  read 
that  the  Emperor  Constantine  became  a  convert  to 
Christianity  in  the  third  century.  Tradition  re- 
cords that  he  was  healed  of  an  incurable  disease 
by  some  member  of  the  Christian  church,  and  that 
out  of  gratitude  for  his  healing  he  became  an  ar- 
dent Christian.  He  made  the  Christian  religion 
the  official  religion  of  his  empire,  with  the  result 
that  the  church  became  very  popular.  Multitudes 
of  people  united  with  it,  not  because  of  their  spirit- 
ual growth  or  because  they  understood  its  teach- 
ings, but  merely  because  it  was  the  proper  thing 
to  do.  The  officials  and  courtiers  made  haste  to 
unite  with  the  church,  and  in  time  it  became  a  semi- 
political  institution  and  the  spirituality  departed 
from  it. 

From  that  period  the  church  went  down  until 
it  seemingly  reached  its  lowest  state  at  the  time  of 
Martin  Luther.  It  had  then  fallen  into  such  dis- 
order that  an  upheaval  occurred  within  its  ranks, 
and  from  then  till  now  the  trend  of  human  thought 
has  been  upward  toward  a  better  understanding 
of  God.  The  Christian  Science  movement  means 
that  we  have  gotten  back  once  more  into  the  zone 
of  primitive  Christianity,  and  we  are  again  wit- 
nessing, to  some  extent  at  least,  the  same  results 
from  the  teachings  of  Jesus  which  were  produced 
by  the  primitive  church.  What  further  unfold- 
ments  shall  be  brought  to  light  in  the  future  will 
depend  upon  spiritualization  of  thought,  individ- 


A   RELIGION   OF   LOVE  11 

ual  growth  in  the  true  understanding  of  God;  but 
it  can  be  safely  predicted  that  the  healing  power 
of  Christ,  Truth,  will  never  again  be  lost  to 
mankind. 

HEALING    IS    THE    SIGN 

Why  should  any  one  not  wish  to  believe  that 
God  heals  the  sick  ?  Is  it  not  a  thing  to  be  desired  ? 
and  is  it  not  something  for  which  humanity  has 
been  praying  through  the  centuries?  Now  that  it 
is  here,  why  should  any  one  not  wish  to  accept  it? 
Let  each  one  ask  himself  that  question. 

Although  the  public  regards  the  healing  as  the 
most  important  part  of  Christian  Science  work, 
such  is  not  the  fact.  The  vital  thing  about  Chris- 
tian Science  is  that  it  teaches  the  truth  about  God 
and  man,  and  about  man's  relationship  to  God. 
By  realizing  and  understanding  this  truth,  healing 
comes  naturally,  and  is  simply  the  sign  that  the 
truth  is  understood.  When  the  knowledge  of  the 
truth  comes  to  the  human  consciousness,  it  destroys 
and  corrects  the  false  beliefs  which  have  been 
entertained,  and  the  effects  of  the  false  beliefs 
disappear,  just  as  the  erasing  of  a  wrong  figure 
in  the  problem  at  the  blackboard  and  the  substitu- 
tion of  the  right  figure  brings  the  correct  result. 
Christian  Scientists,  therefore,  do  not  regard  the 
healing  of  the  sick  by  spiritual  means  as  either 
mysterious  or  miraculous.  A  miracle  is  assumed 
to  be  something  supernatural,  whereas  Christian 


12  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

Science  shows  that  healing  is  the  result  of  the 
operation  of  spiritual  law,  and  that  it  is  the  nat- 
ural and  necessary  result  thereof. 

The  general  opinion  concerning  the  works  of 
Jesus  is  that  he  had  some  mysterious  power  which 
enabled  him  to  suspend  the  operation  of  the  law, 
and  that  what  he  did  was  beyond  the  range  of 
human  understanding.  Christian  Science  denies 
this,  and  insists  that  everything  he  did  was  in 
accordance  with  the  laws  of  God,  and  that  the 
same  results  must  necessarily  follow  whenever  and 
wherever  man  comes  under  the  operation  of  these 
laws,  since  they  are  unchanging.  If  God  estab- 
lished laws  for  the  government  of  His  universe,  it 
is  inconceivable  that  Jesus  should  suspend  them 
or  set  them  aside. 

Many  people  believe  that  God  either  sends 
sickness  or  at  least  permits  it,  so  that  in  some  wa^ 
it  is  an  agency  for  good  to  work  out  our  spiritual 
growth.  Now  if  this  is  true,  why  did  Jesus  come 
to  make  war  on  it.''  If  God  created  sickness,  and 
either  sends  it  or  permits  it  to  be  sent  for  any 
purpose,  and  Jesus  destroyed  it  and  taught  his 
followers  to  destroy  it,  was  he  not  working  against 
God?  And  if  sickness  is  a  good  thing,  why  did 
Jesus  wish  to  destroy  it? 

ORIGIN    OP    SICKNESS 

Christian  Science  shows  that  sickness  and  sin 
originate  in  mortal  mind  and  result  from  the  oper- 


A    RELIGION    OF    LOVE  18 

ation  of  this  so-called  mind.  God  did  not  create 
them,  nor  do  they  result  from  the  operation  of 
spiritual  law.  Jesus  did  not  work  contrary  to 
God's  laws  in  destroying  them.  Christian  Science 
insists  that  Jesus  was  consistent.  He  did  not  do 
the  will  of  the  Father  at  one  time,  and  at  another 
seek  to  overturn  His  laws.  It  follows,  then,  that 
if  Jesus  performed  his  works  in  accordance  with 
and  by  means  of  God's  laws,  the  same  results  must 
follow  in  every  age  whenever  those  laws  are  under- 
stood and  applied.  Moses  and  the  prophets,  and 
Jesus  and  his  disciples  and  followers,  healed  the 
sick,  raised  the  dead,  and  performed  many  won- 
derful works  by  means  of  this  power;  and  in 
every  age  the  result  of  the  operation  of  spiritual 
law  in  human  consciousness  has  been  the  destruc- 
tion of  discord  and  the  establishment  of  peace. 

It  is  highly  important,  therefore,  that  every 
one  should  become  familiar  with  the  law  of  Mind, 
the  law  of  Spirit,  and  learn  its  operation.  We 
have  all  of  us  known  a  good  deal  about  the  so- 
called  laws  of  matter,  but  we  have  the  Bible  state- 
ment that  "the  law  of  the  Spirit  of  life  in  Christ 
Jesus"  makes  us  free  from  "the  law  of  sin  and 
death."  Christian  Science  is  the  only  thing  I 
know  which  defines  the  law  of  Spirit  and  explains 
its  processes  and  operation  so  that  people  may 
understand  it  and  apply  it  and  prove  it  for  them- 
selves. 


14  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

WHAT    IS     CHRISTIAN     SCIENCE? 

Christian  Science  is  a  religion.  It  is  the 
Science  of  Christianity — the  Science  of  God  and 
man.  It  reveals  spiritual  law,  and  explains  the 
operation  of  that  law  in  its  relation  to  man  and 
the  universe.  It  defines  mortal  mind  and  immortal 
Mind,  and  so  makes  plain  the  difference  between 
mortal  man,  and  man  made  by  God  in  His  image 
and  likeness.  Christian  Science  pleads  for  a  ra- 
tional understanding  of  God  in  place  of  mere 
belief  about  Him,  and  it  is  urging  mankind  to 
look  for  real  causation  in  Mind  and  not  in  matter. 
It  declares  that  God  is  not  the  author  of  sin,  sick- 
ness, or  death,  hence  these  conditions  are  illegit- 
imate and  can  be  destroyed  by  a  knowledge  of  the 
truth.  It  denies  that  there  is  any  divine  authority 
for  man  to  sin,  suffer,  or  die,  and  recalls  the  solemn 
declaration  of  the  Scripture  that  God  gave  man 
as  his  birthright  dominion  over  all  the  earth  and 
over  all  that  it  contained.  Christ  Jesus  said,  "Ye 
shall  know  the  truth,  and  the  truth  shall  make  you 
free."  Christian  Science  says  to  the  one  who  is 
without  any  sense  of  dominion,  that  the  knowledge 
of  the  truth  will  set  him  free  from  his  bondage  to 
sin,  suffering,  sorrow,  and  failure,  and  will  give  to 
him  that  dominion  which  God  said  in  the  beginning 
belonged  to  man. 

A  correct  understanding  of  God,  therefore,  is 
necessary  as  the  foundation  of  religion.     Any  sys- 


A   RELIGION   OF   LOVE  15 

tern  of  religious  teaching  founded  upon  an  imper- 
fect or  an  erroneous  concept  of  God  must  neces- 
sarily fail  to  bring  to  the  believer  the  comfort  and 
help  that  he  seeks.  When  we  look  around  and  see 
the  devotion  of  people  to  their  religious  beliefs, 
and  then  see  how  often  they  fail  to  realize  the 
benefits  for  which  they  seek,  it  is  a  fair  deduction 
that  there  is  something  wrong  about  their  under- 
standing of  God. 

GENERAL    CONCEPT    OF    GOD 

I  shall  give  no  offense  when  I  say  that  the 
average  person  has  a  very  uncertain  and  indefinite 
conception  of  God.  Some  think  that  God  is  a  per- 
son. For  instance,  in  his  great  painting,  called 
"The  Flight  of  the  Holy  Family,"  which  hangs  in 
the  Metropolitan  Art  Gallery  in  New  York  city, 
Rubens  painted  what  he  conceived  to  be  a  good 
portrait  of  God.  He  depicted  Him  as  a  man  with 
a  long  beard  and  a  patriarchal  expression. 

How  many  people  there  are  who,  when  they 
kneel  down  and  with  closed  eyes  reverently  pray  to 
God,  have  in  mind  a  person  or  form  or  image  to 
which  they  pray!  How  many  others  there  are 
who  think  of  God  as  a  being  of  anger  and  wrath, 
who  sends  disease  and  disaster  to  those  who  dis- 
please Him !  And  are  there  not  some  who  believe 
that  God  lives  in  a  far-away  country  called  heaven, 
where  He  maintains  a  court  after  oriental  fashion, 
and  that  it  is  necessary  for  people  to  die  and  go 


16  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

there  in  order  to  see  Him ;  and  still  others  whose 
beliefs  about  God  are  so  nebulous  and  indefinite 
that  they  would  be  entirely  unable  to  make  any 
statement  about  Him  which  would  be  satisfactory 
even  to  themselves?  In  view  of  all  this  confusion 
of  belief  about  God,  is  it  strange  that  humanity  is 
sick  and  discordant?  Is  it  strange  that  there  are 
so  many  different  forms  of  religion,  each  pointing 
a  different  way  to  God? 

GOD    DEFINED 

Christian  Science  teaches  that  God  is  Principle, 
and  not  person.  The  Bible  reveals  that  God  is 
infinite,  and  that  He  is  omnipotent,  omniscient,  and 
omnipresent,  and  that  He  created  the  universe  and 
everything  it  contains.  Christian  Science,  there- 
fore, explains  that  God  is  Mind,  that  He  is  the 
only  source  and  origin,  the  creative,  governing 
Principle  of  the  universe.  Christian  Science  also 
teaches  that  God  is  wholly  good,  that  He  is  Love, 
as  the  Bible  declares  Him  to  be;  and  since  He  is 
infinite,  He  is  infinite  good  and  infinite  Love.  Can 
we  grasp  the  meaning  of  the  word  infinite  either 
as  it  relates  to  time  or  to  space  or  to  qualities? 
Infinite  means  without  beginning  or  end.  It  means 
unlimited,  without  bound. 

We  think  that  we  gain  some  idea  of  infinity 
when  we  contemplate  the  solar  system.  The  far- 
thest planet  is  so  far  away  that  it  takes  nearly 
one  hundred  and  sixty-five  years  for  it  to  make 


A   RELIGION    OF   LOVE  17 

a  single  revolution  around  the  sun.  Halley's 
comet,  traveling  forty  miles  per  second,  takes  ap- 
proximately seventy-six  years  to  traverse  its  orbit. 
We  get  lost  when  we  try  to  contemplate  the  mag- 
nitude of  the  space  required  for  the  movements 
of  the  bodies  in  our  solar  system,  and  yet  that  is 
only  a  beginning.  Astronomers  tell  us  that  they 
have  counted  on  photographic  plates  of  the  Milky 
Way  one  hundred  and  forty  million  suns,  each 
probably  having  its  own  system  of  planets.  These 
figures,  stupendous  though  they  are  as  mortal 
concepts,  at  least  serve  to  show  us  that  infinity  is 
truly  beyond  our  grasp.  The  Bible  says  that 
everything  God  made  is  good,  and  Christian 
Science  stands  on  this  declaration;  and  with  this 
as  a  starting-point.  Christian  Scientists  proceed 
to  prove  that  good  is  ever  present,  and  has  power 
to  destroy  evil,  and  that  when  man  is  governed  by 
God,  good,  as  Principle,  he  is  healthy  and  happy. 
The  Mind  that  is  infinite  good  and  infinite  Love 
cannot  be  the  author  of  evil,  and  infinite  Love  does 
not  send  suffering  or  distress. 

HOW    HEALING    IS    DONE 

The  thing  that  most  people  consider  difficult  to 
understand  is  how  healing  is  accomplished  through 
Christian  Science.  Conceding  that  God  is  Mind 
or  Principle,  they  ask,  How  is  that  Principle  to 
be  brought  into  relationship  with  the  human  mind, 
so  as  to  destroy  sickness  and  sin?    In  other  words, 


18  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

how  can  man  proceed  to  establish  the  unity  between 
himself  and  spiritual  law,  so  that  this  law  may 
operate  through  him  and  free  him  from  sickness 
and  from  the  desire  to  sin? 

Christian  Science  explains  the  matter,  and 
makes  it  plain.  In  fact,  Jesus  explained  it  and 
made  it  so  plain  that  there  never  should  have  been 
any  misunderstanding  about  it.  If  you  were  to 
connect  your  lamp  to  an  electric  wire  with  a  wooden 
rod,  you  would  have  no  light;  but  if  you  made  the 
connection  with  a  metal  rod,  you  would  come  into 
instantaneous  communication  with  the  power-house 
at  the  other  end  of  the  line,  and  your  light  would 
glow.  God  is  Spirit,  and  when  people  try  to  estab- 
lish the  connection  between  themselves  and  Spirit 
with  the  rods  of  human  will,  ignorance,  selfishness, 
pride,  or  any  other  form  of  wrong  thinking,  they 
will  be  disappointed;  but  when  they  use  rods  of 
truth,  love,  humility,  meekness,  kindness,  and  the 
golden  rule  of  doing  unto  others  as  we  would  have 
others  do  unto  us,  the  nexus  is  established  and 
the  divine  power  flows  from  Spirit  into  the  human 
consciousness,  imparting  to  it  qualities  and  capa- 
bilities which  it  had  not  previously  possessed,  and 
bringing  into  it  a  sense  of  peace  which  it  had  not 
before  known. 

The  prophet  Micah  said  a  man's  enemies  are 
they  of  his  own  household,  and  Jesus  repeated  the 
statement.  I  used  to  understand  the  meaning  of 
these  texts  to  be  that  a  man's  enemies  were  his  own 


A   RELIGION    OF   LOVE  19 

kin,  but  I  now  realize  that  a  man's  enemies  are 
they  of  his  own  mental  household.  The  mental 
guests  or  thoughts  which  we  entertain  in  our 
mental  homes  are  either  our  friends  or  our  foes. 
Hatred,  fear,  self-love,  and  all  evil  qualities  of 
thought,  are  enemies  which  bind  men  to  sickness 
and  death,  and  men  will  never  gain  their  freedom 
until  they  drive  out  these  enemies  and  make  human 
consciousness  the  temple  of  God. 

We  are  told  in  Christian  Science  that  fear  is 
an  ingredient  of  every  disease,  and  if  fear  were 
entirely  destroyed,  a  large  number  of  diseases 
would  go  with  it.  If  we  could  imagine  this  world 
with  all  hatred,  fear,  superstition,  self-will,  and 
self-love  destroyed,  it  is  conceivable  that  longevity 
would  be  increased  and  that  happiness  and  health 
would  be  more  secure.  If  Christian  Science  had 
never  healed  a  case  of  sickness,  it  would  still  be 
entitled  to  lasting  praise  for  compelling  this  age 
to  recognize  the  power  and  influence  of  thought. 
Solomon  declared  three  thousand  years  ago  that 
as  a  man  "thinketh  in  his  heart,  so  is  he."  In  other 
words,  the  quality  of  the  man  is  determined  by  the 
quality  of  his  thought.  It  is  therefore  of  supreme 
importance  that  man  should  know  the  truth,  to  the 
end  that  he  may  know  how  to  think  correctly. 

PARABLE    OF    THE   PRODIGAL   SON 

In  the  parable  of  the  prodigal  son  Jesus  illus- 
trated the  power  of  right  thought.     We  read  that 


20  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

the  young  man  took  the  property  with  which  his 
father  had  endowed  him  and  went  into  a  far  coun- 
try, where  he  made  bad  use  of  it.  After  a  while 
he  began  to  be  in  want,  and  finally  secured  em- 
ployment in  a  very  menial  position.  The  position, 
however,  did  not  yield  enough  to  keep  him  from 
starving,  and  he  was  obliged  to  eat  swine  food. 
About  that  time  a  voice  said  to  him,  "Why  do  you 
not  go  home?  In  your  father's  house  is  enough 
and  to  spare:  then  why  do  you  stay  here?"  So 
he  decided  to  go  home  and  tell  his  father  the  whole 
miserable  story  and  say  that  he  was  no  more 
worthy  to  be  called  his  son,  but  if  the  father  would 
only  let  him  come  home  he  would  be  as  one  of  his 
hired  servants.  Meekness  and  humility  now  took 
the  place  of  self-love,  and  instantly  the  line  of  com- 
munication was  opened  between  himself  and  the 
father.  The  father  saw  him  a  great  way  off,  and 
ran  to  meet  him,  and  put  a  robe  on  him,  and  a 
ring  on  his  finger,  and  the  son  found  that  he  had 
been  a  son  all  the  time.  Nothing  but  his  own  false 
sense  had  made  him  suffer,  and  when  he  got  rid  of 
the  false  mortal  beliefs  of  a  prodigal  and  revealed 
the  qualities  of  a  son,  the  scales  fell  from  his  eyes 
and  he  found  himself  in  his  right  mind. 

BEATITUDES 

At  the  very  beginning  of  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount,  in  what  has  come  to  be  called  the  beati- 
tudes, Jesus  enumerated  the  qualities  in  man  which 


A   RELIGION   OF   LOVE  21 

connect  him  with  God.  "Blessed  are  the  pure  in 
heart:  for  thej  shall  see  God."  "Blessed  are  the 
meek:  for  they  shall  inherit  the  earth."  "Blessed 
are  the  merciful:  for  they  shall  obtain  mercy." 
"Blessed  are  the  peacemakers:  for  they  shall  be 
called  the  children  of  God."  When  these  qualities 
of  purity,  meekness,  mercy,  and  love  take  posses- 
sion of  the  human  mind,  connection  between  the 
human  and  the  divine  is  thus  established,  and  a 
sense  of  divine  Love,  which  heals  and  regenerates, 
flows  into  the  human  consciousness.  From  this  it 
is  plain  that  Christian  Science  Mind-healing  is  not 
hypnotism;  it  is  in  fact  the  very  opposite.  Hyp- 
notism is  the  domination  of  one  human  mind  by 
the  will-power  of  another,  on  the  basis  of  the 
stronger  controlling  the  weaker,  while  in  Christian 
Science  it  is  the  operation  of  Truth  in  the  human 
mind  which  neutralizes  and  destroys  the  error  and 
produces  the  healing. 

There  is  not  a  case  of  physical  healing  in  Chris- 
tian Science  where  the  person  healed  is  not  ben- 
efited morally,  given  a  spiritual  uplift;  whereas 
the  effect  of  hypnotism  is  harmful.  A  short  time 
ago,  one  of  the  leading  physicians  of  Philadelphia 
published  an  article  in  one  of  the  medical  journals 
in  which  he  warned  the  medical  profession  and  the 
public  against  hypnotism,  saying  that  it  is  an  evil 
and  a  dangerous  thing. 

While  most  people  now  admit  that  hypnotism 
is  a  bad  thing,  there  are  some  who  claim  that  men- 


22  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE: 

tal  suggestion  is  a  good  thing;  some  clergymen 
even  claiming  that  Jesus  healed  by  mental  sug- 
gestion. The  fact  is  that  mental  suggestion  and 
hypnotism  are  on  the  same  plane  of  operation  and 
differ  only  in  degree.  All  who  claim  that  Jesus 
healed  by  mental  suggestion  are  virtually  accusing 
him  of  having  been  a  hypnotist,  and  Christian 
Scientists  deny  that  he  healed  through  any  such 
method.  Any  one  has  the  right  to  believe  in  hyp- 
notism and  mental  suggestion  if  he  wishes  to  do 
so,  but  it  should  be  made  plain  that  those  things 
have  no  connection  with  Christian  Science. 

GOD  NOT  THE  CREATOR  OF  EVIL 

Another  subject  about  which  the  teaching  of 
Christian  Science  is  much  misunderstood  is  the  un- 
reality of  evil.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  teaching 
of  Christian  Science  on  this  subject  is  very  plain. 
The  Bible  says  that  God  made  everything  that 
was  made,  and  that  everything  He  made  was  good. 
God  therefore  did  not  create  evil.  Since  God  did 
not  create  evil,  Christian  Science  says  it  is  not  real 
and  that  it  is  not  eternal.  Everything  that  God 
made  is  eternal  and  indestructible,  and  if  He  had 
made  evil  it  would  possess  those  qualities.  It  is  a 
fact  that  evil,  whether  in  the  form  of  sickness  or 
sin,  can  be  destroyed.  Jesus  made  war  upon  it 
and  destroyed  it,  and  the  entire  human  race  is  at 
this  very  moment  engaged  in  a  warfare  against  it. 
Christian  Science  is  taking  the  lead  in  this  war- 


A   RELIGION   OP   LOVE  28 

fare  against  evil,  and  has  shed  much  light  upon 
the  subject  by  showing  that  evil  exists  nowhere 
except  in  human  belief,  and  that  it  can  be 
destroyed  by  Truth  operating  in  human  con- 
sciousness. 

Christian  Science  points  out  that  evil  has  no 
inherent  power,  and  that  it  cannot  manifest  itself 
either  as  sin  or  as  disease  without  the  cooperation 
of  human  belief.  By  showing  that  evil  resides  in 
human  belief,  and  has  no  divine  causation,  Chris- 
tian Science  has  performed  an  immeasurable  serv- 
ice to  humanity.  It  robs  evil  of  its  supposed 
authority;  it  sets  humanity  free  from  fear  of  evil, 
and  gives  men  a  working  philosophy  by  which  they 
may  destroy  it. 

CREATION 

The  subject  of  creation  is  also  one  about  which 
there  is  much  misunderstanding.  I  have  found 
that  many  people  do  not  know  that  there  are  in 
the  Bible  two  accounts  of  creation.  The  first  ac- 
count is  to  be  found  in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis, 
where  we  are  told  that  God  created  everything, 
and  that  He  made  it  good,  and  lastly,  that  He 
made  man  in  His  own  image,  and  after  His  own 
likeness,  and  that  He  gave  man  dominion  over  all 
the  earth  and  over  all  that  it  contained.  The  sec- 
ond account  contains  an  allegory  about  God  com- 
ing down  to  earth  and  making  a  man  out  of  dust. 
All  through  the   centuries   the   trouble   has   been 


24  CHRISTIAN   SCIENCE: 

that  people  have  regarded  the  Adam  man  as  being 
the  real  man  created  by  God  in  His  image  and 
likeness,  and  have  tried  to  make  the  goodness  and 
omnipotence  of  God  fit  into  the  creation  of  a 
sinner. 

Christian  Science  maintains  that  since  man 
was  made  in  the  image  and  likeness  of  God,  he  is 
spiritual  and  not  material.  To  believe  that  God 
made  man  of  dust  is  to  make  God  responsible  for 
all  the  sin  and  misery  that  have  pertained  to  ma- 
teriality and  filled  the  world  from  the  beginning 
of  time.  Such  a  belief  is  monstrous,  and  is  not 
supported  either  by  the  Scriptures  or  by  reason. 
It  dishonors  God  and  degrades  mortals,  and  the 
best  proof  that  it  is  erroneous  is  the  fact  that  it 
has  never  delivered  men  from  either  sickness  or  sin. 

As  time  goes  on  humanity  exhibits  an  ever- 
decreasing  interest  in  theories  about  God  which  are 
not  helpful  and  practical.  This  tendency  has  been 
deplored  by  the  churches  as  indicating  a  loss  of 
interest  in  religion,  but  it  is  not  so.  It  indicates 
a  tremendous  desire  for  a  religion  that  is  both 
reasonable  and  practical. 

AGE     OF     PRACTICAL    THINGS 

The  chief  difference  between  the  civilization  of 
the  present  time  and  the  civilizations  which  have 
existed  in  the  past  is  to  be  found  in  the  desire  for 
practical  things.  The  Greeks,  for  instance,  at- 
tained a  high  degree  of  culture.     They  excelled  in 


A   KELIGION    OF   LOVE  25 

architecture,  painting,  sculpture,  oratory,  poetry, 
the  drama,  and  in  all  forms  of  prose  composition, 
but  with  all  their  culture  they  never  invented  a 
single  labor-saving  machine.  They  knew  nothing 
of  electricity  or  of  the  application  of  steam,  and 
had  none  of  the  simple  conveniences  that  are  en- 
joyed today  by  every  one.  In  our  own  time,  the 
demand  is  for  practical  things.  A  thing  is  val- 
uable in  proportion  as  it  is  useful.  No  one  has 
any  time  for  theories,  and  if  a  man  has  a  theory 
he  must  try  it  out  for  himself  and  prove  its  utility 
before  any  one  will  listen  to  him. 

In  an  age  of  practical  things  there  must  be  a 
religion  that  is  practical.  People  are  no  longer 
satisfied  with  theories  about  what  is  to  happen  in 
another  world.  What  is  desired  is  a  demonstrable 
religion  that  saves  from  present  trouble, — from 
sickness,  and  sin,  and  failure,  and  unhappiness, 
and  the  countless  ills  of  every-day  human  expe- 
rience,— and  if  there  is  a  religion  that  will  do  this, 
it  can  be  safely  trusted  for  the  future.  Christian 
Science  is  essentially  a  practical  religion;  in  fact, 
it  has  been  called  applied  Christianity.  Mathe- 
matics does  much  good  in  many  ways,  but  it  is  not 
until  its  rules  are  applied  to  human  aifairs  that 
we  see  brought  out  great  bridges,  railroads,  sub- 
ways, lofty  buildings,  and  other  things  which  are 
of  public  utility  and  which  contribute  to  the  well- 
being  of  mankind.  In  the  same  way  It  Is  only  when 
the  teachings  of  Jesus  are  understood  and  applied 


2«  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

to  human  affairs  that  we  see  the  sick  healed,  sin- 
ners liberated  from  bondage  to  evil  habits,  and 
other  practical  things  done  for  the  betterment  of 
humanity. 

Nor  is  the  desire  for  practical  things  limited 
to  religion ;  it  manifests  itself  in  an  effort  to  find  a 
practical  solution  of  the  problems  of  life.  Man 
desires  to  know  who  he  is,  where  he  came  from,  and 
where  he  is  going.  He  wants  to  know  what  is  true 
as  regards  the  overcoming  of  sickness  and  sin  and 
death.  He  wants  to  find  out  if  it  is  necessary  for 
him  to  go  on  forever  suffering  from  those  condi- 
tions. In  short,  the  same  desire  for  practical 
things  that  is  responsible  for  the  steam-engine, 
telephone,  telegraph,  and  many  other  useful  things, 
is  driving  men  forward  to  try  to  find  out  the  truth 
about  themselves. 

HUMAN    EXISTENCE    AN    ENIGMA 

Human  existence  is  an  enigma.  As  far  back 
as  mortal  man  has  left  any  history  of  himself  we 
find  that  he  has  been  engaged  in  an  effort  to  solve 
this  problem.  To  aid  him  in  his  efforts  he  has 
founded  religions — many  of  them.  He  has  devised 
many  systems  for  healing  the  sick.  He  has  built 
schools  and  endowed  societies  for  research,  and 
has  invoked  the  aid  of  physical  science.  He  has 
been  industrious  and  painstaking,  and  has  faith- 
fully adhered  to  whatever  thing  seemed  for  the 
time  being  to  offer  a  solution.  It  must  be  admitted, 


A    RELIGION    OF    LOVE  27 

however,  that  none  of  these  things  have  met  the 
need. 

When  we  look  at  the  question  from  the  phys- 
ical standpoint,  we  find  that  humanity  enjoys  some 
sunshine,  and  goes  through  much  shadow;  that 
it  suffers  and  dies,  and  that  these  conditions  have 
continued  from  the  beginning  of  human  history. 
We  read  about  progress  in  medicine  and  surgery 
and  begin  to  hope  for  better  things,  but  these  hopes 
have  never  been  realized.  After  four  thousand 
years  under  the  drugging  system  we  are  forced  to 
admit  that  not  one  disease  has  been  permanently 
eradicated.  In  fact,  there  are  more  diseases  today 
than  there  were  five  hundred  years  ago,  and  every 
year  adds  to  their  number. 

When  we  look  at  the  question  from  a  theolog- 
ical standpoint,  we  see  that  there  are  more  than 
one  hundred  and  fifty  different  Christian  denomi- 
nations. They  all  use  the  same  Bible  and  worship 
the  same  God,  and  yet  they  differ  as  to  what  the 
Bible  teaches.  They  differ  as  to  doctrines,  ordi- 
nances, and  modes  of  worship.  In  some  cases  the 
differences  are  of  such  a  character  that  if  some  are 
right,  others  must  be  wrong.  By  thus  multiplying 
creeds  mankind  has  not  arrived  at  absolute  truth 
or  been  delivered  from  evil. 

Jesus  said,  "Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor 
and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest;" 
but  in  spite  of  the  consecrated,  loving,  and  faithful 
efforts   of  religious  workers,  there   are  as  many 


28  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

tears  today  as  there  were  two  thousand  years  ago. 
Sadly  and  sorrowfully  humanity  is  forced  to  admit 
that  material  medicine  and  scholastic  theology  have 
failed  to  solve  the  human  problem. 

Nothing  could  induce  me  to  say  a  harsh  or  an 
unkind  word  against  the  clergy  or  against  the 
members  of  the  medical  profession.  A  large  ma- 
jority of  them  have  labored  faithfully  and  con- 
scientiously to  bring  peace  and  health  to  mankind, 
and  none  have  grieved  more  than  they  when  their 
efforts  were  not  attended  by  success.  In  face  of 
these  things,  however,  it  seems  apparent  that  if 
humanity  is  ever  to  be  emancipated  from  sin,  suf- 
fering, sickness,  and  death,  deliverance  must  come 
through  a  better  understanding  of  God  and  man 
than  material  medicine  and  scholastic  theology 
have  thus  far  been  able  to  give. 

MRS.    EDDY 

Many  people  seem  to  think  that  Christian 
Science  is  some  new  thing  devised  by  Mrs.  Eddy; 
but  such  is  not  the  case.  It  is  defined  by  its 
Founder  as  "the  law  of  God,  the  law  of  good,  inter- 
preting and  demonstrating  the  divine  Principle 
and  rule  of  universal  harmony"  (Rudimental  Divine 
Science,  p.  1).  It  was  understood  and  applied,  in 
part  at  least,  by  Moses  and  the  prophets.  It  re- 
veals the  same  Principle  that  was  understood  and 
practised  by  Jesus,  and  by  means  of  which  he  per- 
formed his  works.     It  reveals  the  same  Principle 


A    RELIGION    OF    LOVE  29 

that  he  taught  to  his  disciples,  and  which  they  in 
turn  taught  to  their  disciples.  Whenever  it  has 
been  understood  and  applied  it  has  been  found  to 
operate  as  a  law  of  annihilation  to  sin,  disease,  and 
death,  and  to  supersede  so-called  mortal  laws. 

Mrs.  Eddy  discovered  this  law  in  the  year 
1866,  as  the  result  of  her  own  healing  from  an 
injury  that  those  around  her  believed  would  prove 
fatal.  She  turned  to  God  for  help,  and  through 
spiritual  means,  as  the  result  of  prayer,  she  was 
immediately  restored  to  health.  She  knew  that  it 
was  the  power  of  God  which  had  healed  her,  but 
she  wanted  to  know  how  it  had  been  done.  She 
wanted  to  know  whether  it  had  been  a  miraculous 
exhibition  of  divine  power,  or  had  been  brought 
about  by  the  operation  of  a  law  which  might  be 
understood.  She  has  told  us  that  she  was  fully 
convinced  her  healing  had  occurred  through  the 
operation  of  some  law,  and  that  if  she  could  dis- 
cover the  law  it  would  be  possible  for  others  to  be 
healed  by  means  of  it.  She  worked  for  three  years, 
devoting  most  of  her  time  to  the  study  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  at  the  end  of  that  time  she  an- 
nounced that  she  had  discovered  the  spiritual  law 
by  means  of  which  Jesus  healed  the  sick. 

SKEPTICISM    MET 

At  first  people  were  skeptical,  and  refused  to 
believe,  but  she  met  their  skepticism  by  actually 
healing  such  cases  as  were  brought  to  her.     She 


30  CHRISTIAN    SCIENCE: 

reduced  her  discovery  to  writing,  but  before  hav- 
ing it  published,  she  tells  us  that  she  subjected  it 
to  the  broadest  practical  tests.  She  healed  many 
chronic  and  supposedly  incurable  cases  of  sick- 
ness, some  of  which  have  been  authenticated  by 
the  written  and  signed  statements  of  those  who 
were  healed.  She  taught  her  discovery  to  a  large 
number  of  students,  and  they  were  able  to  heal 
through  the  application  of  the  Principle  as  taught 
to  them  by  her.  In  this  way  Christian  Science 
grew  very  rapidly,  and  everywhere  its  growth  was 
the  result  of  the  healing  of  the  sick.  Wherever  the 
spiritual  law  discovered  by  Mrs.  Eddy  was  cor- 
rectly applied,  it  operated  in  the  same  manner, 
and  destroyed  both  sin  and  disease. 

In  1875  she  first  published  "Science  and 
Health  with  Key  to  the  Scriptures,"  in  which  she 
stated  the  spiritual  law  which  she  had  discovered 
and  defined  its  operation.  This  book  dealt  with 
subjects  that  were  so  unfamiliar,  and  apparently 
so  uninteresting,  that  no  publisher  could  be  found 
who  would  take  the  risk  of  bringing  it  out,  and 
Mrs.  Eddy  was  obliged  to  publish  it  herself. 
According  to  all  ordinary  standards  of  judgment, 
there  was  apparently  no  class  of  people  to  whom 
it  would  appeal.  Notwithstanding  these  facts, 
however,  there  was  an  immediate  demand  for  the 
book,  and  it  ran  rapidly  through  one  edition  after 
another.  Instead  of  appealing  to  no  class  of 
people,  it  was   found  that  it   appealed  to  every 


A   RELIGION   OF   LOVE  81 

class.  Only  thirty-eight  years  have  elapsed  since 
the  book  was  first  published,  but  in  that  compara- 
tively short  time  it  has  circulated  in  every  land, 
and  is  perhaps  today,  next  to  the  Bible,  the  most 
widely  read  book  published  in  the  English  lan- 
guage. A  great  religious  organization  has  gath- 
ered around  its  teachings,  and  Christian  Science 
is  now  engaging  the  attention  of  thinking  men 
and  women  in  every  part  of  the  world.  It  has 
been  truly  said  that  the  remarkable  spread  of 
Christian  Science  over  the  earth  is  comparable  to 
nothing  in  history  except  to  the  spread  of  Chris- 
tianity in  the  early  centuries  of  the  present  era. 


When  viewed  from  any  point,  Mrs.  Eddy 
stands  as  one  of  the  great  characters  of  this  age. 
She  has  made  a  discovery  in  the  realm  of  meta- 
physics which  exerts  and  must  continue  to  exert 
a  more  far-reaching  influence  upon  humanity  than 
any  discovery  ever  made  in  the  physical  realm. 
She  has  founded  a  religious  movement  which  has 
restored  to  mankind  the  spiritual  healing  as  prac- 
tised by  the  primitive  church.  Within  the  brief 
space  of  one  generation  her  teachings  have  so 
impressed  themselves  upon  the  public  that  it 
would  be  difficult  to  find  a  place  where  there 
is  not  a  Christian  Science  church  or  society,  or 
at  least  where  there  are  not  some  Christian 
Scientists. 


82  A   RELIGION   OF   LOVE 

I  shall  never  forget  my  impressions  when  I  first 
heard  the  operation  of  a  Marconi  instrument.  It 
filled  me  with  a  sense  of  awe  when  I  realized  that 
there  was  going  on  through  the  atmosphere  about 
me  a  conversation  of  which  my  senses  could  take 
no  cognizance.  We  know  that  the  law  governing 
the  transmission  of  wireless  messages  has  always 
existed,  but  it  was  not  until  some  one  discovered 
it  that  it  became  available  to  mankind.  So  it  is 
with  the  spiritual  law  of  life  discovered  by  Mrs. 
Eddy.  It  has  always  existed.  We  have  lived  and 
moved  and  had  our  being  in  it,  as  Paul  says,  but 
it  was  not  available  until  it  was  apprehended. 

Mrs.  Eddy  has  been  assailed  by  critics,  but  that 
is  not  surprising.  There  has  never  been  a  pioneer 
of  new  and  better  things,  a  leader  of  thought, 
who  has  escaped  from  criticism  or  whose  ideals 
have  been  at  once  accepted  by  all.  Out  of  all 
the  criticism  and  misunderstanding  of  Christian 
Science  and  its  Leader  and  Founder,  there  stands 
the  fact  that  it  has  healed  a  multitude  of  people. 
Sooner  or  later  every  person  will  adopt  that  sys- 
tem of  religious  teaching  which  brings  the  largest 
measure  of  help  and  hope  and  consolation,  and 
so  long  as  any  remain  who  are  suffering  from 
unhappiness  or  sickness  or  sin.  Christian  Science 
will  offer  to  them  a  sure  means  of  finding  the 
divine  aid. 


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A  weekly  newspaper  for  the  home,  published  every  Saturday,  con- 
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